Focused Improvement

Focused Improvement is an approach, in other words, of concentrated elimination of machine park-related losses.

6 wastes related to the operation of the machinery park

In order to start eliminating wastes, you must first identify them. That’s why identifying wastes is one of the most important skills that machine operators and maintenance specialists should have. And going back to the wastes themselves that limit machine availability, we can distinguish 6 of the most important ones.

They are:

1. Breakdowns
2. Changeovers and adjustments
3. Short downtime and idling
4. Reduced speed of operations
5. Quality defects
6. Production start-up

Focused Improvement building foundation

At the core of building Focused Improvement is a proper employee training process, including issues related to the TPM concept and the 5S method. Established theoretical knowledge and understanding of the idea of building a Total Productive Maintenance system is the basis for subsequent activities.

The next Focused Improvement activities are based on changing awareness in all employees, about the effectiveness of the maintenance system. Leaders are then identified and teams are built to implement improvements and build work environments according to 5S principles.

The next Focused Improvement activities are based on changing awareness in all employees, about the effectiveness of the maintenance system. Leaders are then identified and teams are built to implement improvements and build work environments according to 5S principles.

Tasks of the teams

Each time, the task of the established teams will be to lead to a situation where there will be:

• zero failures,
• zero defects,
• and zero accidents at work.

You can read more about the Red-Tag problem registration system here.

Methods of eliminating wastes associated with the operation of the machinery park

At the beginning, it should be emphasized that the choice of method or tool for eliminating wastes depends on the type of problem we face. The choice of method will also be influenced by the team and its previous experience. The team is more likely to choose a method they are already familiar with. The management’s task in this situation will be to ensure that the team is knowledgeable in problem-solving methods and tools – which will affect the effectiveness of the corrective actions taken. Nevertheless, all the methods learned will have one goal in common – to find the root cause of the problem.

Among the methods most commonly used to eliminate wastes, we can distinguish:

• SMED (Single Minute Exchange of Die),
• 5S Method,
• VSM (Value Stream Mapping),
• Just in Time,
• Poka Yoke,
• DMAIC Model,
• 8D Report.

To ensure the success of Focused Improvement activities’ implementation, employee involvement will be crucial. Without using the knowledge, creativity and ideas of operators, it will be difficult to identify and effectively eliminate wastes.